Teladoc Class Action Lawsuit Claims Unwanted Telemarketing Calls

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Teladoc Health Inc. by an individual who claims the company’s marketing partner Health Insurance Innovations Inc. (HII) calls consumers without their consent, in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

Plaintiffs April Hale and Len Cline say Teladoc Health makes unsolicited, autodialed and prerecorded calls to consumers without their consent, including calls to those who are on the National Do Not Call (DNC) registry.

Hale states she received at least 25 autodialed and/or prerecorded calls to her cellphone despite the fact that she is registered with the DNC. She says she never gave prior written consent to Teladoc Health to be called in the first place and that she opted out of receiving calls numerous times, but HII continued to call her.

Plaintiff Cline claims to have received at least eight prerecorded calls to his cellphone even though he registered his phone with the DNC in order to avoid such calls. He also maintains he did not give HII prior written consent to be called in the first place.

Hale says Teladoc Health’s marketing scheme involves hiring HII to make calls directly to consumers and to contractually bind those consumers directly to Teladoc Health. A consumer will then pay Teladoc a monthly membership fee of $29.99 for Teladoc’s services, according to Hale.

The plaintiffs maintain that Teladoc Health directly benefits from HII’s telemarketing scheme as it is the beneficiary of any sale made by HII and that Teladoc enters into a direct contract with any consumer that signs up for the service.

“Defendant Teladoc cannot turn a blind eye to the unsolicited calls being made on their behalf and for their financial gain by partnering with HII to make calls to consumers without consent on their behalf,” the Teladoc class action lawsuit states.

Hale states that Teladoc Health knew or should have known HII and its lead generators were making calls on Teladoc Health’s behalf and for their benefit in violation of the TCPA. She says Teladoc Health should not be allowed to retain all of the financial windfalls of its unlawful telemarketing activities without being held liable for its violation of the TCPA.

The plaintiffs claim that by the time they received calls by HII or HII’s lead generators in March 2019, HII had already been sued specifically for TCPA violations approximately 10 times. They say Teladoc Health knew or should have known about these past allegations against HII when Teladoc Health partnered with HII to make telemarketing calls on its behalf.

Despite these prior lawsuits as well as numerous state investigations into HII, Teladoc Health chose to contract with HII to sell products and services on its behalf, according to the Teladoc Health class action lawsuit.

In addition, Hale explains that HII, as Teladoc Health’s lead generator, has a current D- rating with the Better Business Bureau and that Teladoc Health could have researched before hiring HII as its telemarketer. There are also numerous complaints online from consumers describing unwanted calls from HII despite being on the DNC, Hale goes on to say.

Hale contends that, in violation of the TCPA, Teladoc Health hired HII and its lead generators who failed to obtain any written consent from consumers prior to placing prerecorded and/or autodialed solicitation calls.

The plaintiffs maintain that Teladoc Health, through HII, has failed to implement, supervise or maintain an internal do-not-call system whereby consumers would be removed from the calling lists once those consumers ask for the calls to stop.

The Teladoc Health class action lawsuit also says “[a]s part of Defendant Teladoc’s screening process, they should have ensured that HII or its affiliates abide by the TCPA and DNC laws and should have regularly maintained sufficient oversight to ensure they were abiding by those laws since they were calling on behalf of the Defendant Teladoc.”

Hale says neither Teladoc Health or its telemarketing partners obtained her prior written consent to place solicitation calls to her on her cell phone using an autodialer and/or prerecorded messages.

The plaintiffs go on to say the unauthorized telephone calls made on behalf of the defendant have harmed both of them in the form of annoyance, nuisance and invasion of privacy, and disturbed the use and enjoyment of their phones, in addition to wear and tear on the phones’ hardware as well as the consumption of memory on their phones.

Did you receive calls from HII or Teladoc Health without giving your consent? Leave a message in the comments section below.

The plaintiffs are represented by Stefan Coleman of the Law Offices of Stefan Coleman P.A., Avi R. Kaufman of Kaufman P.A. and Anthony I. Paronich of Paronich Law P.C.

The Teladoc Health TCPA Class Action Lawsuit is April Hale et al., v. Teladoc Health Inc., Case No. 7:20-cv-05245 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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